O2 UK to sell the Xperia SP without a charger – would that bother you?

UK operator O2 has been fronting a campaign to stop the bundling of chargers with mobile phones. O2’s ‘Charger out of the Box’ scheme was conceived to avoid waste as their research suggests 70% of customers already have suitable chargers and that there are 100 million unused chargers lying in UK homes and offices.

The company today confirmed that it will not be bundling a charger with the Sony Xperia SP (C530X). The retail package will only come with a micro USB cable to charge the phone with an existing charger or via a computer. If a customer needs a charger, O2 says it will supply one at a discounted price.

O2 has already trialled the eco-driven project with HTC phones and Nokia has signed up too. O2’s CEO Ronan Dunne said: “Taking chargers out of the box is a small change that has a huge environmental benefit – cutting down not just on waste, but also the environmental costs of transport, storage and component manufacture.”

He went on to say “we have trialled this scheme with two major handset launches and have been able to show our partners that consumers are ready to buy phones without the chargers – if the environmental benefits are explained clearly to them. Sony backing our campaign is a major step towards making chargers out of the box the norm in the UK and I very much hope that we will see others joining us over the course of this year.”

Sony’s Catherine Cherry, marketing director, added “there is a clear willingness amongst customers to listen to the environmental message, so from our perspective pilots like this are essential to reducing environmental waste. Networks and handset manufacturers have to take a lead on this area and so we were eager to run a trial with one of our leading smartphones. If it works well, we will obviously consider rolling this out more widely.”

How do you feel about packaging a new phone without a charger? Does it bother you or can you see the environmental benefits? We’d love to hear your thoughts below.

It’s stupid. I kept all my working chargers, why?
Because sometimes you need to charge more than one device ASAP and parallel charging is better.

Also my aunts keep forgetting them in their offices :P

Walid Amg

no at all, I have 2 charger at home so !!

hamboy

Read the article

TrixzD

Well that’s ridiculous yes most people have them but people who don’t will have to pay a price for something that should be included. Should ask the customer if they need one then give it for free if you ask me instead of making people pay for their ideas.

Kaostheory

As long as I get a new cable, they don’t last the life of the phone. The chargers seem to be different thoug. The new Xperias don’t work with lower amped chargers.

http://twitter.com/FQdeB Felix

Not in this case. I have found that the Sony charger can charge phones very fast compared to other charges. This way people will still be forced to buy an original charger.

SonyFan

have about 6 micro usb charger…no problem…

Michael Hofmann

Sony should have 2 USB ports on its chargers, which you can then buy extra if you need it.

Joe Merol

If they’re gonna sell the phone at a discount, then go ahead, otherwise, it’s double dipping.

VenetiCAT

I don’t like this.. Each charger has different output..I was charging a Sony Xperia v with an arc s charger.. They’re both Sony chargers but it was taking ages for it to charge, I used the original Xperia v charger, and it was fine, I checked each charger, it had different output voltage.. You can damage the battery if you don’t charge it properly.. Seems like a stupid idea to me..

Jesús López Sotelo

Different output current*. All chargers MUST be 5 volts in its output.

VenetiCAT

Yea :P you know what i meant

Yong Jie Tan

“If a customer needs a charger, O2 says it will supply one at a discounted price.”

Are you kidding me? So what if I don’t take the charger? Give me back the charger’s cost.

Mac

It’s a good idea I think, only negative is that most people don’t know about ’em fast chargers and if they not get 1 from out of the box they might miss it and think that other ppls phones are charging faster. I do have 2 original chargers 1 neo n 1 acro s. But I bought the ep881 2 use the fast charging.
Does all new phones like sp and zr have compatibility with fast charging?
Like some of the others already mentioned It’s good 2 get the cable then I hope the phone is a bit cheaper. Would be nice, so as I said, it’s a good idea.

http://www.facebook.com/sami.morabet Sami Mrabet

if i don´t have a Sony charger before i buy SP its a dumb idea…

M.arc

No I don’t?
Internal power controller _always_ select optimal current mAmps.It’s independent of the input power charger.

Mac

They can have both opinions for all xperia’s then u can pic a phone with or without the charger. The one without must be a bit cheaper but the main thing is that u feel happy for saving the world ;-) kinda haha

Kreg

Some chargers have 5VDC and 1500mA output while others have 5VDC 2000mA. I got my SBH20 Bluetooth headset without charger as well, just with the extremely short micro usb cable. I for one, didn’t need that cable either since I got 2 Xperia phones (S and Z) and I rarely charge both of them at the same time.

DoucheyTuesday

No charger?! The apocalypse is nigh.

VenetiCAT

Yes but sometimes optimal isn’t enough.. a 1500mA output is not enough for today’s devices.. So people who buy new phones without a charger, will be using their old insufficient charger, in turn damaging the battery..if it had a 2000mA output, then it could select optimal, because it would be sufficient..

jay

A better and sensible decision would be to give a discount if u don’t need the charger…this way people who don’t have one won’t be required to pay extra and those who already have will get a discount if they don’t need it…simple!!!! This should also be applied to earphones!!

Arokhantos

They should include them if they standard its not up to them to decide, but sony’s decision to include them.
Sounds like lame scam if ask me to get extra money for charger seperatly.

DoucheyTuesday

It’s a catch-22 situation: a world with a completely uncharged brick of a phone or a charged phone but no world to use it in….somewhere in Russia a man is laughing..

Herman

It would bother me.
A lot.

When I sell old phones, I sell the chargers with them. So when I buy phones, I expect to get suitable chargers as well.

Joe Merol

>will be using their old insufficient charger, in turn damaging the battery
[citation needed]

Joe Merol

Goddammit Dmitry

dreamycreamy

I need about 3 or 4 chargers. One for my bedroom, one for my living room, one for travelling and one for the car (I don’t need the plug but the cable). You could call that laziness, and I would agree, but that system suits me. I love how Sony has the usb cable separate from the plug for laptop/pc. That is environmentally friendly and just easy, unlike my Dad’s Samsung which you cannot disconnect, so he’s always borrowing my usb cable. Plus, I like having spares incase one gets broken or lost.

Jan

What! No Charger?!?! That’s …. that’s….
wait, actually, that doesn’t sound so bad. If you need the charger, you just factor in that extra charge compared to other phones/provides that have it bundled. Who cares whether it is in the same box.

https://twitter.com/rgxVOiD naathaanS

Sound like something that Apple would do

The_Newtype

Many phones in the good old USA are sold like this…

…and our plans are worse.

dereknobuyuki

My Xperia GX did not come with a charger. It was really no big deal.
Most people have a charger from their previous Android smartphone since by now, most people in my market are on their 2nd smartphone. The chargers are still sold but it makes sense to not force someone to buy one when they don’t need one.

keshav

If the output current is less than optimal, then it would take more time to charge. But how it can damage the battery?

Krasimir Argirov

I used my old SonyEricsson charger when I get Xperia Z for almost two weeks, but the device just didn’t charge fast as Sony advertised. When I switched to original Z charger things change and “fast charge” become a feature instantly. So there is some differences even between Sony USB chargers.

CO2 terrorist

That’s like providing handbooks on CD for self-printing. It has nothing to do with saving a few cents, it’s all about our beloved nature!
What’s next? Not bundling the phone itself but providing construction data on CD for the customer’s 3D printer? I’m sick of this pseudo eco bla bla!

mountain

Japan has stopped bundling chargers a few years back. One of the reasons behind the standardization of the current USB standard a few years back was that EU had wanted to reduce waste by having many chargers, so I would expect that other phones will stop including chargers in the future.

I have a T and even with the charger it came with, it won’t charge if I use a 10ft aftermarket cable I bought. 1st T had sod, so I had it replaced, still won’t charge with certain chargers or cables.

surethom

Personally No I dont mind as I already have 4 usb chargers, But if someone has an old phone that does not use the new USB standard or has moved away from iphone, hope they have a usb plug to charge there device.

p.s. you could have uses a proper 3 pin plug picture.

SonyUser3

Remove from the box and then sell separately? Well, that’s environment friendly. Would be more friendly if the charger wasn’t produced in the first place!

Richard McKenna

I don’t like it, I usually pass my old phone onto a family member of something and they usually need the charger. If I’m paying £500+ for a new phone as I did with the Xperia Z I expect it to come with everything I need to use it. I don’t want to then have to go and purchase a new charger for more money.

Babylonbwoy

They are doing the same for accessories, got IM750 and SBH20 without wall charger, what is funny is that the SBH20 pack says that it should contain one

Vorse Williams

As soon as the phone then goes faulty they claim any warranty is void due to it being the wrong charger

Billy de Fretes

I prefer earphone not charger, because xperia z earphone not good enough for me.

Mac

Wtf haha! That’s great, we can’t even trust in what’s on the box is included anymore..

wtf

Would it bother you to buy a car without any tires?!?!

Babylonbwoy

Yes, but to be honest it’s the first time that happends.

Mac

Hopefully the last as well.

http://twitter.com/Falcon2045 Severin Lochinger

I’d be happy if every company would stop packaging chargers. Even the USB cable is useless clutter, IMO. It would reduce electronic waste a lot.

Same goes for useless junk in retail packaging btw. Sony does a good job with their packaging. Only my Amazon Kindle had a better environmental friendly (and still stylish and classy) packaging.

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